Metro cops in full alert vs Mindanao blasts spillover

abs-cbnNEWS.com | 07/08/2009 2:33 PM

Police in Metro Manila went on full alert on Wednesday in anticipation of a spillover of bomb attacks from Mindanao.

Chief Superintendent Roberto Rosales, Metro Manila police regional director, said he has ordered all district police commanders to intensify police visibility and intelligence operations "to preempt the possible spill over of terrorist attacks in the wake of the recent incidents of bombing in Mindanao."

Rosales passed the directive after the bomb attacks near a church in downtown Jolo in Sulu province and Iligan City in Lanao del Norte, where at least seven people were reported killed and over 50 others wounded.

The twin bombings followed a similar attack near a crowded cathedral in Cotabato City, which left six people dead and 30 others wounded.

Rosales said Metro Manila police units were placed on full alert status starting 8 a.m. He said checkpoints will be placed in strategic areas around Metro Manila to block the possible entry of suspected members of local terrorists based in the south.

He said policemen will be all over public places including malls, public markets, churches and trains.

"With the upgrading of alert status from heightened to full alert the PNP (Philippine National Police) is fully prepared to deal with any eventuality that may threaten the lives and properties of people living in Metro Manila," he said.

Hours after the twin bombings in Jolo and Iligan City, PNP chief Director General Jesus Versoza placed the entire police force in Mindanao full alert status and units in Luzon and Visayas in heightened alert status.

National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales said in an earlier interview over ABS-CBN's Umagang Kay Ganda that investigators have no evidence to blame the bombings in Mindanao to the Muslim separatist group Moso Islamic Liberation Front.

Defense chief Gilbert Teodoro also cleared the communist group, New People's Army, from the bombings.

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